In article , writes:

Well, to be fair, it's been the recent past abuses of federal land
management in the name of "salvage" that resulted in a huge growth of
environmental activism. Steep-slope logging and road building does
exist, and existed during the Clinton administration. Hull Oakes had roads
built at taxpayer expense into the Tobe West area, which had very steep
slopes right over a coho salmon spawning area, and the logging operation was
shut down as soon as OSU and the government got around to inspecting the
area, wherein they discovered what the enviros were telling them all along:
steep slopes over streambeds and the presence of endangered species within
the forest.

Which makes you wonder why the environmentalists are opposing the new
plans that would ban cutting of old growth entirely. DeFazio opposed
Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan for precisely that reason. Even back
then, he was saying it is time to move to quit mining legacy forests and
move to sustainable management of the federal lands that have already
been cut.

The fact is, the big urban environmental groups oppose any sensible land
management, because a successful management plan on public lands would
cut into their fund raising efforts.

Exactly as the enviros had said. But, the operation wasn't stopped until
dozens of people had been arrested and a two million tax dollars were spent
on a road that would have benefitted only the logging operation because the
road was otherwise off limits to the public. Yarder lines went right over
Tobe creek, and I provided aerial footage showing that their "selective
clearcut" razed the land right down to the dirt. By the time the
officials stepped in, the area had been 70% cut. That one made 60 Minutes.

I wasn't aware of that one. It was going on at the same time as the
China Left protests in the Siskiyou National Forest, which was, BTW, a
model thinning operation. It would be interesting to see how the China
Left came through the Biscuit fire. Wouldn't it be entertaining if the
loggers saved the China Left forest and the ones where the enviros
stopped operations are gone?

I did some web sleuthing on Tobe West, but couldn't find any sites that
had any actual information. I did find one fish survey at

http://www.midcoas****ershedcouncil..../pdf/50116.pdf

that indicates Tobe Creek isn't much for fish. It has less than 1 smolt
per square mile for sections, and no smolts at all for the rest of the
creek.

Of course, what Hull-Oakes did is try to get their turn-of-the century
steam-powered plant, which required large-girth timber to operate, turned
into some sort of living museum which meant that the taxpayers of the state
of Oregon would provide them with a certain amount of board feet of old
growth timber per year by law--profits and price of public admission, of
course, going to the company.

Is that mill still open? If it is, it would be the last large log mill
in the PNW. Nowadays, if you deliver a log larger than 24" to a mill,
they dock you because they can't saw it. I think a few veneer plants can
still handle large peelers, but they are peeling small logs now and
facing clear plywood with cottonwood instead of fir because populus
species grow so fast and clear.

Another example is, of course, Warner Creek which was a timber salvage
auction of an old growth stand that went to a local company with prior
felony documentation of timber theft and auction-rigging. The "salvage"
fire was blatant arson; the arsonist didn't even bother to take his gasoline
can out with him. Since there were no roads to the site, somebody actually
had to lug the gasoline can out into the woods and deliberately start a fire
in an old growth forest where there was virtually no reason to burn
whatsoever except for salvage sale under the timber salvage rider on the
"Oklahoma City Bombing Victim Relief Act."

The salvage rider expired. Two million acres of pine burned in Montana
in 2000, and not a bit of it was salvaged. It is unlikely there will
ever be fire salvage operations on federal land again. Burned trees
deteriorate far too rapidly to make it through the approval process. If
you don't get them logged and milled within two years, they are
worthless.

Clinton was such a spineless piece of crap that, rather than take the head
for refusing to sign the OKC relief act and having the balls to tell the
public exactly why, he signed it including the timber salvage rider that
industry shills managed to attach to the end of the bill. In case anybody
was wondering why the environmentalists in Oregon prefered to vote for Nader
even if it meant sabotaging the Democrats, that's why. The Democrats in
this case were absolute cowards.

So, what does Clinton have to do with thinning forests? Thinning is a
win-win process for everybody involved. Over time, thinning produces
higher quantities of higher value lumber, and it also helps forests
recover old growth characteristics. It opens up the understory and
improves habitat for endangered species like spotted owls, and prevents
the destruction of forests by runaway wildfires and insect infestation.

Face it, organizations like the Sierra Club have become fund raising
machines that don't give a shit about the environment. All they care
about is the money coming in.

Well, "we" didn't lose anything because it wasn't ours in the first place
except by manifest destiny and the idea that just because it's there means
it's there for us to exploit.

"We" import 40% of the world's wood fiber production for our own use.
"We" are clear cutting the Phillipines, Brazil, Indonesia and S.E. Asia
so we can wipe our ass with Charmin. "We" could produce our own wood
fiber, except the enviros would rather hold a bonfire than manage timber
lands sensibly.

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http://home.teleport.com/~larryc